You are doing all the right things to eat healthily and live a healthy lifestyle, but you love pizza!
Is that wrong, are you destined to live in a pizza wasteland or forever have a pack of guilt on your back for eating it?
There is a way to enjoy pizza and eat healthily, so rejoice! If you change your focus to the most nutritious pizza toppings, your pizza can take on a whole new part of your diet.
Here are some key things to keep in mind when you want to eat healthy pizza.
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Your Pizza Source
You will need to think about where you get your pizza from. You can have all the right motivations to eat a healthier pizza, but if your restaurant uses bad ingredients this won’t help you.
Many quick pizza places use the cheapest ingredients and they often lack any serious nutritional value.
Search for a restaurant with a quality pizza menu that uses wholesome natural ingredients. You also want one that offers specialty pizzas with the healthy varieties you are looking for.
Where you get your pizza can be as important as what type of pizza you get.
Your Pizza Focus: Nutritious Pizza Toppings
You want to focus on the most nutritious pizza toppings when getting a pizza. You don’t have to get everything, but find your favorites and mix and match them to get your ultimate combos.
The more vegetables the better when it comes to a nutritious pizza, but you can get some quality meat in there also.
Here are some of the healthy pizza topping options you can focus on:
Garlic
Garlic has incredible flavor and is a low-calorie food. It can be used in many different ways on your pizza to make it taste great and benefit your health.
Garlic contains sulfur compounds that bring positive health benefits to the body. Garlic promotes immunity health and cardiovascular health.
The sulfur content in garlic has also shown to be an effective way to detoxify your body from heavy metals in the body.
Spinach
One of the easiest ways to add nutrients and antioxidants to your pizza is to add spinach. Spinach contains lots of vitamin K, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
Vitamin K helps promote bone health and vitamin A helps to promote your eye health. Vitamin C supports the immune system and also helps you to have healthy skin.
The anti-inflammatory effects of spinach also promote brain health by helping to slow down cognitive decline.
Red Peppers
Red peppers are a great choice for your pizza because they are more nutrient-dense than green peppers. They contain large amounts of vitamins A and C.
The antioxidant lycopene is loaded in red peppers. Red peppers have one of the highest amounts of lycopene.
Lycopene has been shown to help fight against prostate and lung cancer. So to help make your healthy pizza, add plenty of red peppers.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms’ low-calorie count has helped people lose weight in some studies. You could add mushrooms as part of your weight loss pizza toppings.
Along with being low-calorie, mushrooms are also nutrient-dense. They contain different enzymes and antioxidants based on the type of mushroom you eat.
Mushrooms are also high in vitamin D which is a hard nutrient for some people to get without supplements.
Chicken
Chicken is a great source of lean low-fat protein. You can add it to your pizza as an alternative to the processed sausages and pepperoni.
Besides the protein, chicken adds phosphorous to the body which is a mineral that helps teeth and bone health.
The key to adding chicken is to be careful of the sauces that are added to it. Many barbecue sauces are loaded with sugar and alfredo’s are loaded with fats.
Onions
Onions are a popular pizza topping and many people do not know their amazing health benefits.
Onions support heart health with lots of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories in them. This helps them reduce high blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol.
Onions also contain prebiotics which helps gut health. They support the growth of healthy bacteria in your gut.
The prebiotics also help your body absorb calcium better, so load your pizza up with them!
Black Olives
Black olives are a favorite pizza topping for many so adding them will not be a problem for them. They will be happy to know that black olives are loaded with Vitamin E.
Vitamin E helps the body to neutralize free radicals in the body. It also supports healthy skin and hair.
Black olives help you have a healthy pizza because they also contain an abundance of iron.
Iron helps your blood cells carry oxygen throughout your body. If we don’t have enough iron, we start to feel weak because of the lack of oxygen in our bodies.
Artichokes
If you want to make your pizza one of the healthiest pizzas, add artichokes. They are loaded with antioxidants, vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, and protein!
They are hard to beat for health benefits.
Artichokes contain a large amount of fiber and act as a prebiotic for your gut. Plus they boost your immune system and contain folate which helps decrease inflammation.
Artichokes can truly be called a superfood!
Your Healthy Eating Journey
Eating healthy is a journey that each person takes day by day. One of the keys to healthy eating is finding the things that you like and are already healthy. Why eat healthy things you don’t like when you can eat healthy things you like?
Nutritious pizza toppings are a great way to add healthy items to your diet in a way that you love. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be hard, it just takes some planning and preparation.
For more nutritious eating ideas, read our other articles on nutritious foods and healthy recipe ideas. We want to help you in your journey to healthy living.
